No New Pirates Around Here

People tell me frequently that I should blog about the funny, weird things that happen with the boys. Trouble is, they are "in the moment" and blogging happens outside of those moments. I am a terrible head-blogger. I can't remember anything.

I was just in the bathroom cleaning up a mess that Q made in there yesterday afternoon, and I realized the story associated with that mess is the kind of thing "people" are talking about.

Q(11) told me yesterday that he wanted to pierce his ear. "Go ahead." I told him, not thinking he would go through with it. Let's just say he has sensitive skin. The next thing I know, Moe is running around looking for a lighter to use to sanitize a needle. I was still not concerned. Noah is looking at me this whole time, wondering when I'm going to step in. I choose my battles and honestly, appearance is not one of them. Besides, I was still thinking this was certainly not going to happen. Moe ran out of the bathroom and got some ice cubes.

I should interject that when Dh was in high school, he pierced his ear in the boys' restroom with a safety pin. So that's where the idea came from. When I was a teenager, I let one of my friends give me a tattoo. I guess I should throw the inkjet refills away before they get any ideas.

After a while, Q has not come out yet, I thought I should check on him. Noah and I had a funny discussion about which of my earrings Q would wear. I don't have many studs. He'd have to wear a long, dangly, beaded job. I found Q sitting on the shower stool that I borrowed for Sam to use, in front of my full-length mirror, needle hanging half-way out of his lobe.

"Mom! Is there anything else that will numb my ear? Alcohol? (I thought, "Sure, if you drink enough," ha! not really...I'd never encourage them to drink at 11.) Motrin?" "Sorry, son. Ice is it." Q hates cold and to be cold. He wasn't having any more of that. So he gave up.

I am relieved to say that we did not have any pirate initiates living here when Sam got home from work. While I don't battle over clothing (except that awful black, nylon shirt that Moe insists on wearing), Sam does. He wants clean-cut, all-American, red-neck boys, not pirates.

Tomorrow, the story of Moe's haircut :-)

God is Good

So, I said I was going to blog again. There hasn't been anything worth blogging about that doesn't sound whiny. We found out this week that the clot in Sam's leg hasn't changed. Not.one.bit. We talked to three different doctors and not one of them thought he should be in the hospital. Sam is begging to be admitted now. The day we went to the ER, they offered to admit him. Had I been in the room, I would have insisted. I was already weary from playing nurse for a week. Now, it's been a month. The numbness is wearing off and I'm turning into a very agitable person. (I don't even know if that's the word, but that's how I feel.) Some very nice people brought gigantic bags of movies for Sam to watch and I've had it with watching movies for a year.

To top that off, things around the house are breaking left and right. The sink sprayer is leaking so bad, it's just dangling in the sink instead of sitting in it's nice perch. Cabinet hinges are snapping one after another. And the water heater quit making hot water. Which is ok, if you've been out in the 100+ degree heat, but we haven't.
Our pastor happens to be the most resourceful man and a true jack of all trades and he came to fix it for us. He takes pastoral care to a whole new level. Oh! and let us not forget the front doorknob that I replaced myself a couple of weeks ago.
 
I am hoping to have a deck to sit on in the mornings and evenings by Sunday. Then I will really need a laptop :-)

Noah had his cast taken off yesterday. I felt so much relief for him. I'm sure it's nothing compared to what he feels. That cast was on for 8 weeks. He does have to wear a velcro splint dealy for another month. I'm not sure how he's going to do the BSA lifeguard course at camp next month. But they are proceeding ahead full steam with that.

Speaking of BSA. He put on Life Scout this month and has started the first phase of his Eagle project. If he'll stay on top of it, he could have Eagle by January. He has some merit badges to complete, as well.

New Favorite Blogs

So, in the time that I haven't been blogging, I have been reading blogs. Here are some of my new favorite ones.

Be warned, as you scroll or page through them, some of them do have adult content.

Oddee, today strange canned food  

Junk Shop Photos

Engrish.com 

On another note. Noah is teaching a class at VBS this week. OK, it's recreation. But he's in charge. How cool is that?

They should be clearing the ground today to start his Eagle project. You read that right, Noah is starting his Eagle project. Isn't is exciting! The project will be done by the end of summer. He still has other things he needs to do, we are projecting his earning Eagle by December. If you're nearby expect an invitation to the award ceremony some time after that.

Tea and Comfort

What a crazy season I'm in!
Four weeks ago, we started tearing the siding and the roof off of our house. The next week, contractors came and put on new, better siding and a new, better roof. I praise God for the hail storm that was the catalyst for this and I bless our home owners insurance company. Seriously, they have been very generous.
The next week, Sam went in for scheduled shoulder and elbow surgery.
And at some point during recovery he developed a blood clot in his leg.
By next Friday, he will have been home for 5 weeks.

I keep asking the Lord to show me the good in his being home. I am looking for it. Because I know there is blessing in it.

The week of surgery recovery, I was not very accommodating. The polar care machine would run out of ice in the middle of the night. If I got up to refill it, I would grumble.
SNAP!
I think I know the reason he's been home for an extra two weeks! So that I would learn to minister to him without grumbling and complaining!
During the week different people would call to check on him. One of those people was his middle sister.

She recently decided to homeschool and I have been working with a friend to develop a ministry for new homeschoolers. S-I-L and I have been spending time on the phone talking about homeschooling and her brother.
One of the best things about this S-I-L is how much she loves her family. I don't think it's rare, I just don't see it in my own immediate family. So it's such a blessing to be included in their family.

A few days after I talked to her, I received a card from her, an expensive, handmade card with a bag of tea. It was her way of sending me comfort. I probably won't ever brew that tea. I'll go buy some and drink it, virtually, with her. I will put this tea bag in my Bible and every time I come across it, I will remember the comfort that this special sister sent me and the comfort that Holy Spirit ministers to me, like a morphine drip, whenever I need it, it's there.

Back to Blogging

I miss blogging. I really do. I'm getting tired of Facebook. And I never did understand Twitter. I know you have the notes on FB, where you could journal your little fingers away. But there are some things I just don't want to share there, with a fourth of my high school class. Know what I mean? Now they could come here and read, this blog address is listed on FB.

I'm starting to ramble. See what happens when you don't blog for a long time? So I'm going to be making some changes here. Because I don't really want to blog about homeschool stuff here anymore. I started the TOG1 blog and that's where that stuff will happen. Here, I want to share what God is doing in our lives. I have also been collecting these crazy blogs on my feed reader that I'd like to share. You'll notice some changes. I'll redesign it, again. I'll change the name. I'll remove most of the sidebar stuff and put in other stuff.

It'll be different, it'll be fun. And if you want to know what we're up to, homeschool-wise, visit HERE.